MAN FROM RIO, THAT
(director/writer: Philippe De Broca; screenwriters: Ariane Mnouchkine, Jean-Paul Rappeneau, Daniel Boulanger; cinematographer: Edmond Sechan; editor: Francoise Javet; music: Georges Delerue; cast: Jean-Paul Belmondo (Adrien Dufourquet), Françoise Dorléac (Agnes Villermosa), Ubiracy De Oliveira (Sir Winston), Jean Servais (Professor Norbert Catalan), Simone Renant (Lola), Milton Ribeiro (Tupac), Adolfo Celi (Senor Mario De Castro), Roger Dumas (Lebel); Runtime: 114; MPAA Rating: NR; producers: George Dancigers, Alexandre Mnouchkine; Cohen Media; 1964-France-in French with English subtitles)
“A preposterous madcap action travelogue farce.”
Reviewed by Dennis Schwartz
A Bond-inspired spoof that’s stylish but too cutely turns into a preposterous madcap action travelogue farce. It’s directed with cartoonish zeal by the French New Wave filmmaker Philippe De Broca (“King of Hearts”/”The Seven Deadly Sins”) and is senselessly co-written by him, Ariane Mnouchkine, Jean-Paul Rappeneau, and Daniel Boulanger. The screenplay was atrocious but was still nominated for an Oscar.
The country bumpkin French Air Force pilot Adrien Dufourquet (Jean-Paul Belmondo) is on an 8-day furlough in Paris, where he intends to see his ditsy upper-class girlfriend Agnes (Françoise Dorléac, the older sister of Catherine Deneuve).
At their reunion, the museum where they meet is robbed of a priceless ancient Maltec statue and then the gang of thieves kidnap and drug Agnes to take her to Rio so she can locate where her murdered by poison archeologist father hid one of the three Amazon statuettes. Adrien is in hot pursuit and manages to follow her to Rio by bullying his way onto a flight from Orly Airport. Also kidnapped and taken to Rio is Professor Norbert Catalan (Jean Servais), the archeologist and friend of Agnes’s father who runs the museum.
In Rio, the determined Adrien doggedly follows her no matter what the army of thugs do to him or what obstacles he faces. In the end, he rescues her and, in the jungles of a building-boom in progress in Brasilia, discovers who was the culprit who killed Agnes’s father and the wealthy possessor of the other mysterious statuette, Mario De Castro (Adolfo Celi). In this cheesy “tongue-in-cheek” adventure tale, the collection of the three Maltec statuettes promises to lead its possessor to a hidden place with enough diamonds for them to become the richest person in the world.
REVIEWED ON 8/15/2024 GRADE: C
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